THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE
rnotograpn oy r.. Jonn Long
PUERTO RICO'S 16TH AMERICAN GOVERNOR TAKES THE SALUTE IN
FRONT OF THE CAPITOL
At the left of Admiral William D. Leahy, watching the Inaugural Parade,
September 11, 1939, stands Acting Governor Jose E. Colom. Sefior Colom's
father was one of the first to receive American troops arriving in Ponce in 1898.
When he and other Spanish officials were told they must evacuate Ponce within
48 hours, his father replied that 48 minutes would be sufficient! Overhead hangs
the seal of Puerto Rico, granted by King Ferdinand of Spain in 1511.
underground, or levels hills and fills swamps
to make airports that can send "flying
fortresses" far over the horizon.
We flew eastward that clear August
morning above the fertile plain which rims
Puerto Rico's rocky north coast. Green
and brown fields stretched up to cone
shaped foothills.
Beyond reared dark
mountains, their heads swathed in clouds.
Warm sunshine poured down on sugar
and pineapple fields, orchards and palm
were scaffolds, girders,
groves, silver
rivers, and little
towns whose
houses crowd to
gether as if they
fear to steal space
from precious
crops. From the
air Puerto Rico
obviously is one
of the earth's
most densely
populated places.
It had been
nearly 15 years
since my last
visit to San Juan,
and I was pre
pared for changes.
Even the name
of the island was
different, the
Spanish Puerto
Rico having been
restored in place
of the American
adaptation, Porto
Rico.
A NEW NAVAL
AIR BASE
Expecting
change, I was
nevertheless sur
prised to see a
New Yorkish sky
line of tall build
ings behind the
grim battlements
of El Morro and
the Fortaleza,
which were old
when the Pil
grims landed.
And everywhere
and derricks for
more buildings under construction.
Our plane docked at the trim Pan Ameri
can air base on Isla Grande. No longer
an island, this point of land is part of an
enormous area built up from silt dredged
from San Juan Harbor. Extending back
to the suburbs of Miramar and Santurce,
it will soon be covered with long runways,
hangars, and barracks. This is the site of
a $9,000,000 U. S. Naval Air Base (p. 700).
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